Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The Festival Honors Diana Rodgers!




MEET FESTIVAL HONOREE - DIANA RODGERS


Diana Rodgers is a west/east coast hybrid.  She grew up in Santa Monica and Philadelphia and has spent most of her adult life in LA. 

She has worked as a set decorator, private school admissions, community, and cultural affairs director, among other endeavors, but mostly she has been a career farmers’ market manager and has been working at farmers’ markets since 1994.

She considers farmers’ markets important “placemakers”; transient town squares that provide access to fresh and local food, the fostering of social encounters, and the stewarding of local resources, ideas and talents. She has been happily managing the Mar Vista Farmers’ Market, since 2006. Prior to that, she built and managed the Santa Monica Main Street Farmers Market from 1995-2005.

Since 2008 she has added “farmer” to her resume having embarked on farming in Petaluma, CA with her partner and long time farmer, Tom Turner.

Diana holds an MA in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University and a BA in Worlds Arts and Cultures from UCLA.

The Mar Vista community is becoming recognized throughout the City of Los Angeles for its grass roots engagement in our civic processes, and also for the uniqueness of its Farmers’ Market, and Diana Rodgers has been instrumental in both of these endeavors.  The Mar Vista Farmers’ Market has truly become a gathering place for the community, a place where people plan on coming each Sunday not only to buy wonderful produce, flowers, delicious brunch and lunch items, and to hear and see the many talented artists of our community;  but also to connect with others in the community in a meaningful and regular way, creating a weekly communication that engages all of those who participate in a simple yet powerful community town square.  We of the Mar Vista community would like to thank Diana for her indispensable role in creating a Farmers’ Market that has become such an important part of our daily lives.


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